Top-of-mind awareness

Top-of-mind awareness is an important concept in Consumer Behaviour, marketing research and marketing communications. Top-of-mind awareness is one measure of how well brands rank in the minds of consumers.

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In marketing, top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) refers to a brand or specific product being first in customers' minds when thinking of a particular industry or category.[1]

Top-of-mind awareness is defined in Marketing Metrics: "The first brand that comes to mind when a customer is asked an unprompted question about a category. The percentage of customers for whom a given brand is top of mind can be measured."[2]

TOMA has also been defined as "the percent of respondents who, without prompting, name a specific brand or product first when asked to list all the advertisements they recall seeing in a general product category over the past 30 days."[3]

At the market level, top-of-mind awareness is more often defined as the "most remembered" or "most recalled" brand names.[4]

Top-of-mind awareness is a special form of brand awareness. Companies attempt to build brand awareness through media exposure on channels such as internet, radio, newspapers, television, magazines, and social media.

In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 50% responded that they found the "top-of-mind" metric very useful.[2]